Metro driver fired after fatal accident

The Metropolitan Transit Authority has fired a bus driver involved in an April 17 accident that killed a pedestrian, the transit agency announced Thursday.

Metro said its investigation determined that the driver, Mark Upchurch, who had been with the agency for 12 years, “could have taken measures to prevent the accident.”

Metro’s statement noted that Harris County prosecutors are investigating to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.

The bus Upchurch was driving struck a man as it turned into the Wheeler Transit Center, 4500½ Main, just after 5:30 p.m. The pedestrian, identified by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences as Raymond Patterson, was crossing the entrance to the transit center, Metro said.

No passengers were on the bus at the time and no one else was injured, Metro said.